Monday, January 5, 2015

I know this isn't a "Foodie Blog," but...

I love that photo of the baby burro so much, I didn't want to do another post and cover him up.  So I copied him over to my scrolling screen saver, so I can see him more often.  :)

Anyway, I go through periods where I'm not that interested in food, a frozen Oikos yogurt for lunch or dinner (or both) is enough, along with a good breakfast.  Other times I'm ravenous and want to eat everything in the fridge.  That's what happened yesterday.  I wanted something good, rich, and something with leftovers for the next day (today). 

Every once in a while I surprise myself with a really good meal, and that happened last night.  I was searching on-line for something new to make for dinner and found the old "grilled foil packet" dinner.  I don't have a barbecue, but did more research to find out the oven times and temps that would work.  I have a bunch of tilapia in the freezer and this worked perfect!  I did this once before, but it has been a long time, and I'm not sure if it was on the road, or back in San Diego.  But this will be a "go-to" meal from now on.  There are no dishes to wash, it's fast and easy, and it's great for using leftovers, too.

This is what it looked like plated before I devoured it:

This is not what the recipes I found called for, just what I had on hand and what sounded really good.  The best recipe I found had sliced zucchini where I put the sliced apple, and I would have liked that, but didn't have any.  The only fresh veggie I had was asparagus.  


Above is one packet all wrapped and ready to go onto the baking pan.  The other one shows this:  Two slices of onion, two slices of Fuji apple, tilapia fillet, two slices of tomato, and on the side some raw asparagus and artichokes hearts from a large bottle (in water).  Then I sprinkled Italian dressing over them all, more pepper and a little grated sea salt.  (I just realized I have a banana, that might have been really good, too.  And a sliced peach would be great.)  I baked them both at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.  Perfect, and so delicious! 

The thing I like about these is that you can put almost anything in them, fish, chicken, pork chops, and whatever you want for veggies, maybe some fruit or even potato slices.  I ate every single bit. One thing, though, put the packet on a cookie sheet with sides - mine seemed to leak the dressing and juices out onto the pan, and I was really glad I didn't just put them on the rack.  That would have made a real mess.

This afternoon I took the foil wrapped package out of the fridge and arranged the food on a paper plate with another under it and another plate on top and microwaved it until it was hot.  Again, I ate every single speck.  :)

When I drove to the Winterhaven post office last week, these are some of the shots I got along the way.  There are some beautiful places in this area that you can enjoy just driving along:

A date palm orchard - there are a lot of these in the area.  Note the smoke in the sky from the fire, it had just started:


There were pretty fields of produce, huge cauliflowers, and I think these are lettuce:



A little pond with American Coots:


This poor guy looks like he fell over and just kept growing (and silly Katie):


Laguna Diversion Dam.  This is a pretty little dam -  you drive right past it on Highway 26:

I got this photo from Wikipedia, mine looked just like it, but was from the road and a little blurry.

Remember the fire we saw in our way back to camp?  It was apparently a controlled burn that got out of control and became a fire that was hard to put out.  It went right up to the road and prohibited people from coming up to the Imperial Dam, LTVA.  I guess the people on their way here had to go back and come through Winterhaven the way I was traveling.  Bummer.  And this is what the area looked like after the fire when I was heading to Yuma last week:




There is going to be a gathering of RV Bloggers in Quartzsite this month.  Here's the information:


I don't know if I'll be back in the area, but if I am, I'll be there.  This is being organized by Jerri at Just Wanderin'.  Her post today is pretty funny, and if you go back two more posts, you'll see the one about the Blogger-Fest.

It's starting to warm up, finally.  Super windy during the night, last night, and still kind of breeze today, but the temps are coming up and are in the 70s all week. 

From me and Katie, have a great week, everyone!  :)

6 comments:

  1. Bloggerfest sounds like fun. Thanks for the info.

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  2. Thanks, Barbara! I think anytime you are associating with RVers, food is a great topic. We all eat and most of us like trying different things. We've done those food packets in foil lots but haven't done them in a while either. However, the sky is the limit on what we can put in them and they always taste good good! It was nice to have the temperature jump up yesterday. Hopefully, the cold weather is gone.

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  3. I forgot all about the food packets. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to travel and make the blogger fest.

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  4. That looks yummy! I would have never thought of putting apple in there. I'll bet apple would also be good with pork. Gonna try that. You and I have the exact same china pattern. ;-)

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  5. It's nice that you've got a lot of great trips ahead of you. The experiences you've been able to absorb along the way hints that there are more rewarding travels to come for you. Just make sure that your RV is up to that cross-country task, which I'm sure is what you're really working on. Thanks for sharing that! All the best!

    Cristina Hamilton @ Mount Comfort RV

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  6. Hmmm, Barbara this is the second time now your updated Blog Post didn't appear in my notifications ???

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